The Best Alcoholic Drinks For Dieters

Studies show a glass of wine or beer each day is good for you, but could those added calories be making you fat?

(From shine.com)

We all know that drinking and dieting don’t mix. Alcohol is empty calories, quickly converts to sugar and lowers our inhibitions so we are inclined to eat more. However, for most of us, drinking is a part of birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, weekends, holidays, travel, fine dining, cheap dining, home dining, vacations, boat trips, sailing trips, camping trips, barbecues, happy hours, and in Europe…breakfast. OK, I think you get my drift. That being said, here’s the buzz on how to not let drinking become dangerous to your diet:

Vodka Cranberry/Tonic/Straight: One of the best alcoholic beverages for losing weight is 1.5 shot of vodka (98 calories) with a low or no calorie mixer, such as Schweppes diet tonic or diet cranberry juice (Try Ocean Spray’s Diet Cranberry Juice at 5 calories). Another option if you can stomach it is to drink vodka straight. Now with all of the flavored vodkas, such as Absolut Pears vodka, this is an option.

Captain Morgan & Diet Coke: A 1.5 shot of Captain Morgan (86 calories) with Diet Coke (0 calories) is a great option for bars that don’t have calorie free mixers. Almost every place carries Captain Morgan and Diet Coke. And Captain Morgan (86 calories) is fewer calories than regular rum (98 calories).

Sugar Free Red Bull & Vodka: If you are someone who wants um, “wings” when you are out, the Sugar Free Red Bull (10 calories) mixed with 1.5 shot of Vodka (98 calories) is a good option.

Beer: If you are a beer drinker, try and stick to Miller or Amstel Lite (96 calories, 4.2% alcohol) versus your average 150 calorie beer. Another second place option is Bud Light (110 calories, 4.2% alcohol).

Mimosa: Now you can also enjoy a very low calorie mimosa. Take 2 oz. of Minute Maid Light orange juice (12 calories) and 3 oz. of champagne (78 calories). And voila… a 90 calorie mimosa!

Wine: For all of you out there who have ever made fun of boxed wine (not me, no, NEVER) – I have some ironic news. The butt of all the jokes is having the last laugh. Franzia “Refreshing White” white wine (90 calories, 12.5% alcohol) is the lowest calorie you can get! Maybe they should market themselves as the diet wine and rebrand. SHHHH, don’t tell anyone, but it actually kinda tastes good, not to mention the obvious “low-cost” benefit. One thing to note is that this wine has about 12.5% alcohol, where the high alcohol content wines come in at about 14.0%.

Here is the run down of the averages of the different types of alcoholic drinks: